A Night That Caught Me by Surprise
I've been involved with the Navigators International Student Ministry for about a year and 8 months. I first joined a Thursday night spiritual discussion on forgiveness on zoom in October of 2020. I started helping with events and leading bible studies a little more than a year ago. We started a Women's Bible Study that had many of women excited to be in community with other believers and grow closer to the Lord. It made me and my friends who were leading the bible study with me so joyful to see these ladies' engagement and thankfulness.
This last Friday caught me by surprise in many ways. We had a dinner to celebrate some friends' birthdays and to enjoy fellowship together. Getting there was a bit chaotic, and I ended up getting there late with the girls I gave a ride to, which is not my favorite, but it ended up being an awesome night. Of course, it was really good to see everyone who came and to hear updates on how they are doing. But God showed up in my strange courage, the joy of these students, and in fruitful conversations.
One thing is that I surprised myself. We had a time of sharing updates about our summer happenings. Two people who are leaving soon shared about where they are moving to. I decided to be the first of those who are not leaving to share. I'm not usually one to volunteer to speak in front of a group of people. I didn't really even know what I was going to share. But I found myself sharing about Student Life Camp and how God showed me his glory that week.
I was also surprised that all sixteen of us ended up singing a Nigerian song called, "Family of God", while holding hands and singing. One of the students shared this song and taught it to us. I think it came from reflecting on all that the Navigators leaders have done for us and all the memories with our friends who will be leaving soon. That was fun to sing and dance with everyone. There's something about singing and dancing with people that makes me happy.
A friend came to me later that night and asked for my number and said she'd like to get coffee with me sometime. I know that seems ordinary. But for me, especially when I get in my head and I overthink things, it is big and exciting. I often feel as if I'm the one who initiates those things. I'm usually the one who goes up to someone to ask for their number and ask if we could hang out sometime. When it is the other way around, I am surprised and reminded of God's goodness. He provides me with sweet friends who reach out and encourage me.
As I began writing the post, I was listening to my "Dance to it" playlist. So, because it inspired the title and theme of this post, my song recommendation for you is "Caught Me by Surprise" by Colony House. A cool thing about this band is that the lead singer and drummer are the sons of Steven Curtis Chapman, a Christian singer who was popular in the 1980's. This is just a such a fun song to me that is about how surprising joy can be when it seems to come out of nowhere.
~Kthnxbai!
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